Afghanistan

Cabinet named; council ends

Afghanistan’s grand council adjourned Wednesday after swearing in Hamid Karzai as president and approving a new government to begin the long process of rebuilding a nation shattered after 23 years of war.

However, many of the 1,650 delegates complained that the nine-day council, or loya jirga, failed to dislodge the powerful regional warlords and had left key posts such as defense in the hands of an ethnic Tajik clique opposed by the country’s dominant Pashtun community.

Karzai, who was elected president last Thursday, told the delegates that he had worked hard to put together a Cabinet that was both qualified and representative of the country’s ethnic mix. His government will rule for 18 months until new elections. It will also appoint a commission to draft a new constitution.

Washington, D.C.

FBI to monitor July 4 events

The FBI is putting together a major national operation to monitor and protect July Fourth parades and festivities because of concern that terrorists might attack, officials said Wednesday.

The FBI is not reacting to any specific threat or intelligence, the officials said. But the interrogation of detainees at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has revealed a general interest in the day as a possible target, one of the officials said on condition of anonymity.

The agency is requiring its 56 field offices to create plans for monitoring events in their regions.

Washington, D.C.

White House evacuated

The White House was briefly evacuated Wednesday night after a small plane failed to make radio contact with Reagan National Airport as it flew over the capital, officials said.

An F-16 military jet was scrambled and tracked the plane until it landed at the airport in Richmond, Va., officials said.

President Bush remained in the White House throughout the evacuation, an administration official said.

Law enforcement officials said a Cessna plane had been flying in restricted airspace over the capital and failed to make radio contact with the control towers at Reagan National Airport. The plane then changed direction, prompting the Secret Service to end the evacuation.

The evacuation occurred just hours after a separate incident in which the nearby Federal Reserve building was evacuated because of a suspicious package, which turned out to be harmless.